High-speed print-out device for computers and other uses

ABSTRACT

A high-speed printout device is disclosed, employing a lightvalve of projector having a film of oil or deformable plastic on which a representation of one or more pages of information is written by means of an electron-beam. A strobe light and optical system cause the page or pages of information to be projected onto a moving strip of photosensitive paper. This sequence is repeated at a high rate of speed, achieving high-speed printout of one or more pages at a time. A background pattern generator is connected to the electron beam means for applying a background pattern, if desired, to the information.

United States Patent [72] lnventor Michael A. Scalzo Baldwinsville, N.Y. [2]] Appl, No. 694,163 [22] Filed Dec. 28, 1967 [45] Patented Jan. 26, 1971 [73] Assignee General Electric Company a corporation of New York [54] HIGH-SPEED PRINT-OUT DEVICE FOR COMPUTERS AND OTHER USES 4 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig.

[52] US. Cl 95/4.5 51 B41b 19/00 [50] Field of Search 95/4, 5; 340/324; 178/6130 [5 6] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,111,887 11/1963 Alexander 95/1.1

BACKGROUND PATTERN GENERATOR 3,125,634 3/1964 Murray 350/161X 3,204,540 9/1965 Blakely 95/4.5 3,278,683 10/1966 Ashby 95/4.5X

Primary Examiner lohn M. Horan Attorneys-Norman C. Fulmer, Irving M. Freedman, Frank L.

Neuhauser and Oscar B. Waddell AIKAQI =.A h eh:2q B dexiesisui p edi ploying a light-valve type of projector having afilm of oil or deformable plastic on which a representation of one or more pages of information is written by means of an electron-beam. A strobe light and optical system cause the page or pages of information to be projected onto a moving strip of photosensitive paper. This sequence is repeated at a high rate of speed, achieving high-speed print-out of one or more pages at a time. A background pattern generator is connected to the electron beam means for applying a background pattern, if desired, to the information.

srnass swvcnnamzma DAT}! PAGE CONTROL COMPOSER AND I srnoas uanr srmas h rmeazn Porn conpursn READ-OUT DATA PATENTEU JAN26 I97! II I3 26 I -27 I E I r 4 I I I I l I A J ""QDG) BACKGROUND PATTERN I GENERATOR 33 4s 1 Q S T'RO BE SYNCHRONIZING SWITCH DATA PAGE CONTROL COMPOSER I srnoas LIGHT 42 STROBE 44 TRIGGER POWER COMPUTER READ-OUT DATA 7 INVENTQR: MICHAEL A. SCALZO,

ms ATTORNEY.

. 1 HIGH-SPEED PRINT-OUT nsvrcs sort COMPUTERS AND OTHER uses The aforesaid printout devices,'belng mechanical, have a limited operating 'speed that is far below the speed at which a computer system supplies output data- Thus, :the printout device is a limiting factor in the overall operating speed. One way of coping with the problem is to providea buffer storage memory which accepts the high-speed computer data output and feeds this data, at a much lower rate of speed, to one or more printout devices.

SUNIMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects of the invention are to provide an improved printout device, to increase speed of printout, and to increase the speed and efficiency of computer systems. The invention comprises, briefly and in a preferred embodiment, a light-valve projector having a film of a deformable medium such as plastic, and electron-beam means forwriting representations of information on the deformable medium. Means are provided for composing output data into pages of information and applying same to the electron-beam writing means so that representations of one or more pages of information are sequentially written onto the deformable medium by the electron-beam. A strobe light and optical system are arranged to project the information representation of the deformable medium onto an image area of a moving strip or roll of photosensitive paper. Means are provided to repetitively trigger on the strobe light following the writing of each complete data representation on the deformable medium, whereby page after page of data is repetitively printed out on the movingphotosensitive paper. The strobe light output may be in the visible, ultraviolet,,or other part of the spectrum depending on the spectral sensitivity characteristics of the photosensitive paper. The photosensitive paper may be, for example, of the dry-processing'typeor the wet-processing type. A background pattern generator is connected to the electron-beam writing means for applying a background pattern, if desired, to the deformable medium and hence to the printout pages of information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The preferred embodimentof the invention comprises a light-valve projector arrangement 11, having a thin film 12 of oil or deformable plastic coated onto a transparent support means 13. An electron-beam 14 is produced by an electron gun l6, and is deflected in a scanning pattern over the area of the deformable medium 12 by means of electrostatic deflection plates 17, 18, or by other suitable deflection means. The foregoing elements are mounted in an evacuated glass bulb 19. An optical lens 21 focuses a light source onto the deformable medium 12, through a Schlieren diffraction grating 22, through a projection lens 23, and onto a screen. Further details are disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. Re. 25,169 and In accordance with features of the invention, the aforesaid light source comprises a strobe light 26 positioned so that light therefrom is projected through the light-valve 11 and optical system 21, 23, onto a'strip of moving photosensitive film or paper 27. Preferably, the printout photosensitive paper 27 is rolled up on a supply roll 28, is moved past the projection area by means of power-driven rollers 31, 32, and then wound up on a takeup roll 33, or, alternatively, cut or folded into individual sheets or pages. The drive rollers 31 and 32 are driven by means of a drive motor 36.

Computer read-out data is applied to a'data input terminal 41, and is applied to a data page composer and strobe light trigger circuit 42. The data applied to terminal 41 may be the normal computer read-out data, which is supplied on a lineby-line basis as would normally be applied to a line printer device. The data page composer and strobe light trigger circuit 42 may then comprise relatively simple circuitry for counting the number of data input lines, and generating suitable output pulses when a given number of data lines have been received from the 'data input ten'ninal 41 and applied to the electron gun 16 in order to modulate the electron beam 14 in accordance with a page of the data .to'be printed out. The horizontal scanning of the beam 14 is synchronized on a lineby-line basis with the lines of read-out data, and the vertical deflection of the beam 14 is synchronized in accordance with the number of lines constituting the length of a page or pages to'be printed out.

A strobe light trigger signal is fed from'the circuit 42 to a strobe switch 43 which, in response thereto, applies power from a strobe power source 44 to the strobe light 26, thereby flashing the strobe light momentarily after each page of data has been written onto the deformable medium 12. The drive motor 36 is'controlled and synchronized by a synchronizing control circuit 46, which is interconnected with the data page composer and strobe light trigger circuit 42, so that the printout paper 27 moves at a suitable rate of speed whereby the pages of output data projected thereon by the flashes of the strobe light 26 will appear in suitably spaced sequence. Various types of photosensitive paper are well known, and can be chosen to be photosensitive in the visible light spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum,or other portions of the spectrum. Various suitable strobe lights 26 are known, which emit light in the visible, ultraviolet, or other spectrums so as to be compatible with the photosensitivity characteristics of the printout paper '27. The printout paper may be of the dry-processing type, wetprocessing type, or other types, as desired.

A background pattern generator 47 is connected to apply a background pattern to the electron gun 16, and is interconnected with the data page composer and strobe light trigger circuit 42 for proper synchronization with the read-out data. Thus, for example, the background pattern generator 47 can supply chart lines, grid patterns, or various headings or notations as may be desired to accompany the data output on the various pages of printout on the printoutpaper 27 As another example, the background pattern generator 47 can contain data representing outline maps of various portions of the world, and the computer read-out data applied to terminal 41 can comprise information concerning clouds or other weather data for the various areas, whereby the system would rapidly provide up-to-date weather maps'of various geographical sections. In another use for the invention, the background pattern generator 47 contains topographical map data, and the computer read-out data at terminal 41 comprises positions of military personnel, tanks, aircraft, etc.,'so'that the printout information provides up-to-date information on battle positions. In the foregoing applications, if desired, the information may be projected onto a projection screen in lieu of, or in addition to, being printed out on the printout paper 27.

For rapid printout, it is preferable that the printout medium 27 be moved continuously at a rapid steady rate, the duration of strobe flashes from the strobe light26 being sufficiently short so that the output image is not appreciably blurred.

However, if desired, a Geneva intermittent-motionv mechanism could be employed between the drive motor 36 and drive rollers 31, 32 in order to momentarily stop motion of the printout medium 27 at the times of strobe light flashes. Alternatively, a cammed gear arrangement may be employed to momentarily slow down the motion of the printout medium 27 at the times of strobelight flashes. As still another alternative, the strobe light 27 may be mounted on a pivoted rocker plate, and mechanically caused to rock back and forth in proper synchronism so that when it is producing light, it is moving in a manner to cause the projected image to follow the motion of the moving printout medium 27.

From the foregoing description, it will be realized that the objectives of the invention have been achieved, and it is possible to print out computer data at a high rate of speed, and in many cases the computer output may be connected directly to the printout device of the invention without the need for any intermediate buffer storage circuits. The'background pattern generator 47 permits the use of a wide variety of background patterns to be employed on the printout pages. Another advantage of the invention is that the printout is not limited to any particular sort of type font as in the case with conven' tional line printers and teletypewriters. If desired, several styles of print and patterns may be stored in memory circuits and printed out as desired, or as controlled by the computer output data so that the printout may comprise different type fonts, different sizes, and also designs, symbols, pictures, etc. Digital-to-analogue converter circuits are employed, if required, in the computer or in the data page composer 42 in order to obtain desired printout characters.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention and modifications thereof have been shown and described, various other embodiments and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and will fall within the scope of invention as defined in the following claims.

lclaim:

l. A printout device for displaying output data wherein the improvement comprises light-valve projection means for writing information onto a deformable medium with an electron beam, means for applying electrical output data to said lightvalve projection means to modulate said electron beam, a strobe light and optical system positioned to project onto an image area an image of said output data information written on the deformable medium, means for moving past said image area a printout medium photosensitive to the information projected onto the said image area by said strobe light and optical system, a data page composer circuit adapted to produce a strobe trigger pulse ,when a given quantity of information has been written onto said deformable medium by said electron beam, and means connected to actuate said strobe light in response to said strobe trigger pulse.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, further including a background pattern generator circuit connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said output data information in registry therewith in said projected image.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, including a background pattern generator circuit connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said output data information in registry therewith in said projected image.

4. A printout device for displaying information, comprising light-valve projection means for writing information onto a deformable medium with an electron beam, means for modulating said electron beam in accordance with information to be projected and displayed, and optical means for projecting and displaying theinformation written on said deformable medium, wherein the improvement comprises a background pattern generator connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said projected and displayed information. 

1. A printout device for displaying output data wherein the improvement comprises light-valve projection means for writing information onto a deformable medium with an electron beam, means for applying electrical output data to said light-valve projection means to modulate said electron beam, a strobe light and optical system positioned to project onto an image area an image of said output data information written on the deformable medium, means for moving past said image area a printout medium photosensitive to the information projected onto the said image area by said strobe light and optical system, a data page composer circuit adapted to produce a strobe trigger pulse when a given quantity of information has been written onto said deformable medium by said electron beam, and means connected to actuate said strobe light in response to said strobe trigger pulse.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, further including a background pattern generator circuit connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said output data information in registry therewith in said projected image.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1, including a background pattern generator circuit connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said output data information in registry therewith in said projected image.
 4. A printout device for displaying information, comprising light-valve projection means for writing information onto a deformable medium with an electron beam, means for modulating said electron beam in accordance with information to be projected and displayed, and optical means for projecting and displaying the information written on said deformable medium, wherein the improvement comprises a background pattern generator connected to modulate said electron beam according to a background pattern, whereby said background pattern accompanies said projected and displayed information. 